U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the families of three Americans detained by the Taliban since 2022, reaffirming his commitment to bringing wrongfully held citizens home, the White House said Sunday.
Negotiations have been ongoing since July for the release of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi. The U.S. has proposed a swap involving Guantanamo prisoner Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani. However, sources report the Taliban countered with a demand to exchange Corbett and Glezmann for Rahim and two others.
Corbett and Habibi were detained in separate incidents in August 2022, a year after the Taliban’s takeover. Glezmann was later detained while visiting as a tourist. Ahmad Habibi, Mahmood’s brother, expressed gratitude after speaking with Biden, who assured families he would not trade Rahim unless all detainees were released.
The Taliban denies holding Habibi, and efforts to secure their release continue. Biden’s administration has brought home over 75 unjustly detained Americans globally and all Americans detained in Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal, the White House noted.
Rahim, described in a Senate intelligence report as an “al Qaeda facilitator,” was arrested in Pakistan in 2007 and subjected to harsh CIA interrogations before his transfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2008.
Biden recently reduced the Guantanamo population by nearly half, sending 11 detainees to Oman as part of his efforts to close the facility before leaving office in January.
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